enabling

[ en-ey-bling ]

adjective

, Law.

1. conferring additional legal powers or capacities, especially by removing a barrier to action, suspending required permission, or relaxing oversight: enabling power.

   an enabling act;

   enabling power.

Word History and Origins

Origin of enabling¹

First recorded in 1670–80; enable + -ing ²

Example Sentences

A kind of subconcern underneath that was that these loyalists, unlike so many of the advisers Trump kept around him during that initial term, could be hardworking and knowledgeable about the operations of government, enabling him to actually, successfully carry out his most impulsive and punitive schemes: having enemies arrested, shutting down CNN because Jake Tapper made him mad, overthrowing the government because he doesn’t like the outcome of an election, that sort of thing.

From Slate

"I think there are some changes that need to be made and fundamentally around just enabling the membership, the athletes, the National Olympic Committees, the international federations, partners, broadcasters, to have greater skin in the game and to help structure the future," he said.

From BBC

The Department of Health said it was aware that the availability of community placements was a key barrier to enabling timely discharge from inpatient services.

From BBC

When the media just accepts this as normal political discourse, or observes that Democrats sometimes make false claims too, they do an enormous amount of work in enabling Trump's gaslighting, and leading us to what happened this past week.

From Salon

Not long after its Proposition 65 designation, the California Air Resources Board classified diesel exhaust as a toxic air contaminant, enabling the agency to regulate it.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• permissive